 Internal Noise– confined

within the psychological and

sociological nature of
PURPOSIVE COMMUNICATION (Part One)
1. Communication: An Overview
A. Nature of the Communication Process
As we all know, human communication is vital for survival and it is one thing in life that
we cannot avoid
to do.
Communication:
- comes from the Latin word ‘communis’, which means ‘commons’. To be common
means “to
come together” or “to commune”- “to share something in common”.
- is the process of exchanging ideas, thoughts, feelings and emotions from one person
to another
with the use of symbols which may be verbal and/or non-verbal and aims for
understanding.
Why study Communication?
- to understand ourselves as social being; to understand ourselves as a
person; to gain
professional competence and; to preserve cultural values
Elements of Human Communication:
1. Sender - is the one who initiates the communication.
2. Receiver -provides the sender with feedback which may prompt the sender to clarify
the
message or signal to carry on as planned.
3. Message –I s made up of the ideas and feelings that a sender-receiver wants to
share with
others.
 Verbal symbols – express through words
 Non-Verbal symbols – express through gestures, inflection, tone, etc.
4. Channel - are means through which we transmit the message in either vocal or non-
vocal
messages.
 Vocal messages– are verbal and spoken
 Non-vocal messages– may be expressed in words or non-verbal symbols
5. Feedback - the behavioral response of the sender-receiver to each other. It is the
information
that comes back to the sender of the message and informs how well the message is
getting
through.
6. Noise - an interference that bars the message from being understood or interpreted.
External noise - comes from the physical environment
Internal nose – confined within the psychological and sociological nature of
individuals when thoughts and feelings are engrossed on something other than
the communication at hand.
 External noiseindividuals when thoughts and feelings are engrossed on something
other than thecommunication at hand.
7. Context - refers to the surrounding/environment that helps shape the interaction
between and/or among individuals.
 Physical context– the physical environment where the communication takes
Physical context – the physical environment where the communication takes
place.
Social context – refers to the relationship the participants hold for each other.
Psychological context – has to do with mood and emotions of the communicators
at the moment of communication.

 Social context– refers to the relationship the participants hold for each other.
 Psychological context– which has to do with the mood and emotions of th
Process of Oral Communication:
1. Encoding - is everything that goes inside the brain of an individual.
- involves the sender who, grounded by communicative intentions and goals,
decides on assigning codes.
- is a systematic arrangement of symbols used by individuals to create meaning.
2. Transmission - is the process by which the sender, having assigned codes to come
up with thought symbols (message) that are also comprehensible by the
participant/s of the communication, transmits or sends message to its recipient.
3. Receiving - Having been submitted through sound waves and light waves, the
messages comes from the sender then reaches the receiver. It is assumed that the
receiver’s attention is focused
the sender then reaches the receiver. It is assumed that the receiver’s attention is
focused
on the communication at hand to facilitate better understanding of the message
transported by the sender.
4. Decoding - is the process by which the receiver interprets or assigns meanings to
the codes transported by the source. The receiver tries to give meanings to these
symbols which may be literal or may give associations depending on knowledge and/or
experience.
5. Responding - response is anticipated by the sender from the receiver.

Types of Communication:
1. Intrapersonal Communication - operates within the communicator. (what to wear for
the day, what activities to engage in, reflecting different situations, talking to oneself)
2. Interpersonal Communication - occurs between two or more people. (private
conversations with friends, interview with prospective employer, simple group meeting).

Types of Interpersonal Communication:

A. Dyadic or face-to-face Interaction - is a conversation between two persons which
usually occurs in an informal interaction. This interaction provides a great deal of
feedback as compared to other types of communication.
B. Small Group Communication - occurs when each member or participant speaks
out or is actively participating in the process to come up with a consensus. Degree of
formality may range from intimate to formal
C. Public Communication - an enlarged form of group communication that involves a
resource person addressing a specific audience. The speaker or the resource person
has a message about a certain topic which he/she has prepared beforehand and
delivers nit before an audience. Feedback is limited.
D. Mass Communication - has highly structured messages and able to reach a larger
number of audiences at the same time through the use of electronic devices or print
media like newspapers and magazines.
E. Technology-Mediated Communication - from electronic emails, texting, instant
messaging, social networking, tweeting, blogs and video conferencing-they all share
one thing in common.

D. Levels of Communication
1. Verbal Level of Communication - Although this is perhaps the most apparent level of
human
communication, people can spend a lifetime trying to master it. This level includes our
selection
of words based on an understanding of meaning between the speaker and the listener.
2. Physical Level if Communication - Visual cues like eye contact, gestures,
movements,
stances, breathing, posture, and facial expressions influence how we feel and
communicate.
When used with integrity, techniques like “matching and mirroring” people’s
posture and
gestures (and certain words too) can increase their receptivity of your message.
3. Auditory Level of Communication - The sound of our voice, including the tone, range,
volume,
and speed affects how our messages are received and interpreted by others. For
example, fast
talkers will find it beneficial to slow their speech when speaking to a thoughtful,
introverted
person or risk being unheard. Also, how we enunciate, inflect, and place emphasis on
certain
words affects how others interpret the meaning of what we say.
4. Emotional Level of Communication - Few people appreciate how our emotional
states affect
what we communicate and how the message is interpreted by the recipient. Are you
more
receptive to someone who is positive and life-affirming or one who is negative and
critical?
Enthusiastic or boring? The speaker’s emotions put the recipient in a particular state of
mind
and influence how the listener interprets what is said.
5. Energetic Level of Communication - Also called the psychic level, this level of
communication
encompasses a vast range of unseen factors including a person’s level of
consciousness, the
frequency or harmonics of the message, and other subtle energies. Some people seem
to have
an “X-factor”—a unique presence—that naturally imparts their messages to others with
greater
receptivity and understanding.

E. Models of Communication

1. Aristotle model - According to this model, the speaker plays a key role in

communication. He is the one who takes complete charge of the communication.
The sender first prepares a content which he does by carefully putting his thoughts
in words with an objective of influencing the listeners or the recipients, who would
then respond in the sender’s desired way. No points in guessing that the content
has to be very very impressive in this model for the audience or the receivers to get
convinced. The model says that the speaker communicates in such a way that the
listeners get influenced and respond accordingly.
 Aristotle model of communication is the golden rule to excel in public speaking,
seminars, lectures where the sender makes his point clear by designing an impressive
content, passing on the message to the second part and they simply respond
accordingly. Here the sender is the active member and the receiver is passive one.
2. Berlo’s model of communication. While the Aristotle model of communication puts
the speaker in the central position and suggests that the speaker is the one who
drives the entire communication, the Berlo’s model of communication takes into
account the emotional aspect of the message. Berlo’s model of communication
operates on the SMCR model.

In the SMCR model

 S - Stands for Source
 M - Message
 C - Channel
 R - Receiver

Let us now study the all the factors in detail:

S - Source

The source in other words also called the sender is the one from whom the thought
originates. He is the one who transfers the information to the receiver after carefully
putting his thoughts into words.

How does the source or the sender transfer his information to the recipient ?

It is done with the help of communication skills, Attitude, Knowledge, Social System and
Culture.

 Communication Skills

An individual must possess excellent communication skills to make his

communication effective and create an impact among the listeners. The speaker
must know where to take pauses, where to repeat the sentences, how to speak a
particular sentence, how to pronounce a word and so on. The speaker must not
go on and on. He should also make a point to cross check with the recipients and
listen to their queries as well. An individual must take care of his accent while
communicating. A bad accent leads to a boring conversation.

 Attitude
 It is rightly said that if one has the right attitude, the whole world is at his feet.
There is actually no stopping for the person if he has the right attitude. A person
might be a very good speaker but if he doesn’t have the right attitude, he would
never emerge as a winner. The sender must have the right attitude to create a
long lasting impression on the listeners. An individual must be an MBA from a
reputed institute, but he would be lost in the crowd without the right attitude.

 Knowledge

Here knowledge is not related to the educational qualification of the speaker or

the number of degrees he has in his portfolio. Knowledge is actually the clarity of
the information which the speaker wants to convey to the second party. One
must be thorough in what he is speaking with complete in-depth knowledge of
the subject. Remember questions can pop up anytime and you have to be ready
with your answers. You need to be totally familiar with what you are speaking.
Before delivering any speech, read as much you can and prepare the subject
completely without ignoring even the smallest detail.

 Social System

Imagine a politician delivering a speech where he proposes to construct a temple

in a Muslim dominated area. What would be the reaction of the listeners ? They
would obviously be not interested. Was there any problem in the communication
skills of the leader or he didn’t have the right attitude ? The displeasure of the
listeners was simply because the speaker ignored the social set up of the place
where he was communicating. He forgot the sentiments, cultural beliefs, religious
feelings of the second party. Had it been a Hindu dominated society, his speech
would have been very impressive.

 Culture

Culture refers to the cultural background of the community or the listeners where
the speaker is communicating or delivering his speech.

M - Message

When an individual converts his thoughts into words, a message is created. The

process is also called as Encoding.

Any message further comprises of the following elements:

 Content

One cannot show his grey matter to others to let him know what he is thinking. A
thought has to be put into words and content has to be prepared. Content is
actually the matter or the script of the conversation. It is in simpler words, the
backbone of any communication.

Ted to Jenny -“I am really exhausted today, let’s plan for the movie tomorrow
evening”.

Whatever Ted has communicated with Jenny is actually the content of the
message. It is very important for the speaker to carefully choose the words and
take good care of the content of the speech. The content has to be sensible,
accurate, crisp, related to the thought to hit the listeners bang on and create an
immediate impact.

 Element
 It has been observed that speech alone cannot bring a difference in the
communication. Keep on constantly speaking and the listeners will definitely lose
interest after some time. The speech must be coupled with lots of hand
movements, gestures, postures, facial expressions, body movements to capture
the attention of the listeners and make the speech impressive. Hand movements,
gestures, postures, facial expressions, body movements, gestures all come
under the elements of the message.

 Treatment

Treatment is actually the way one treats his message and is conveys to the
listeners. One must understand the importance of the message and must know
how to handle it. If a boss wants to fire any of his employees, he has to be
authoritative and can’t express his message in a casual way. This is referred to
as the treatment of the message. One must understand how to present his
message so that the message is conveyed in the most accurate form.

 Structure

A message cannot be expressed in one go. It has to be properly structured in

order to convey the message in the most desired form.

 Code

Enter a wrong code and the locks will never open. Enter a wrong password, you
will not be able to open your email account. In the same way the code has to be
correct in the communication. Your body movements, your language, your
expressions, your gestures are actually the codes of the message and have to be
accurate otherwise the message gets distorted and the recipient will never be
able to decode the correct information.

C - Channel

Channel - Channel actually refers to the medium how the information flows from the
sender to the receiver.

How does one know what the other person is speaking ? - Through Hearing.

How does one know whether the pasta he has ordered is made in white sauce or not ? -
Through Tasting.

How does one know that there is a diversion ahead or it’s a no parking zone? -
Through Seeing.

How will an individual come to know that the food is fresh or stale ? How do we find out
the fragrance of a perfume ? - Through Smelling.

How will you find out whether the milk is hot or not ? - Through Touching.

All the five senses are the channels which help human beings to communicate with
each other.

R - Receiver

When the message reaches the receiver, he tries to understand what the listener
actually wants to convey and then responds accordingly. This is also called as
decoding.
The receiver should be on the same platform as the speaker for smooth flow of
information and better understanding of the message. He should possess good
communication skills to understand what the speaker is trying to convey. He should
have the right attitude to understand the message in a positive way. His knowledge
should also be at par with the listener and must know about the subject. He should also
be from the same social and cultural background just like the speaker.

There are several loopholes in the Berlo’s model of communication. According to the
berlo’s model of communication, the speaker and the listener must be on a common
ground for smooth conversion which is sometimes not practical in the real scenario.

3. Shannon and Weaver model is the most popular model of communication and is
widely accepted all over the world.
Let us first go through the following example to understand the model better.

Peter is working as Vice president - Marketing with a reputed multinational firm. He is

currently heading Mike who in turn is taking care of a small team. Peter wanted Mike to
prepare an exhaustive report on marketing strategies which can be employed to
achieve the goals of the organization. He also wanted a detailed study on the
competitor’s activity by end of the day. While he was speaking, the company peon
interrupted to take the lunch order. Finally when Mike got the complete information, he
in turn delegated the responsibility to his team members. He tried his level best to
convey what Peter actually expected his team to prepare. At the end of the day, the
team did prepare the report and submitted to Peter but there were few errors which
they rectified later on.

Let us now understand the example in a more detailed away.

Who is Peter ?

Peter is actually the person who thought of preparing the detailed report for better
output of the organization. He is actually the one from whom the thought came. It was
Peter’s brain who came up with this idea of preparing marketing strategies for the
organization. Thus Peter is actually the source of information.

Had Peter kept the idea in his mind only without sharing it with his team the
organization would have never been benefited out of it. It is very important for the
individual to share his ideas as well as information with others to make the best
possible use of the information. Do you think, Mike and his team would have come to
know about Peter’s idea if he had stored it in his brain only? Obviously NO. Peter had
to convert his thoughts into words and bring out the information through his mouth.
Here mouth is actually working as a transmitter which helps in transmitting the
information, message from the brain to the mouth after carefully putting the thought into
words. Peter spoke about some reports which he wanted from his team, the words or
Peter’s voice is actually the signal being sent to Mike about what he is expected to do.
Without signal or without content how will Mike know what he is supposed to do? Go
through the example once again. The conversation was interrupted by the peon who
came for the lunch order. In the same way signals get interrupted by various noises
and distractions while traveling from the sender and finally reaching to the recipient.
Horns at crowded streets, hustle bustle of the market place, babies wailing, people
screaming are all various types of noises which get coupled with the signal or in other
words the information. Finally Mike could gather all the information from Peter after
ignoring what the peon spoke and downloaded it to his team who were supposed to
prepare the report.

Shannon and weaver model simply proposes that a message actually originates from
the person who gets the thought or has the information. The sender is also called the
Source of information or the Information Source. The information then gets transmitted
from the brain to the mouth and comes out as a signal which then reaches the recipient
after joining hands with several noises and other disturbances. The recipient then
further passes on the message to its final destination or other minds of other
individuals.

Information Source (Thought / message)

↓
Transmitter (Brain to mouth) [Along with noise and distractions-external
barriers]
↓
Signal
↓
Recipient (Receives the signal)
↓
Final Destination (Finally gets the message)
Let us go through the above example once again. The team did prepare the report but
there were some errors which got rectified later. This is the loophole of Shannon
Weaver model. The message while reaching the final destination might get distorted
sometimes as different people interpret messages in a different way. For Mike
marketing strategy could be branding strategy but for the team marketing strategies
could be simple sales techniques to increase the output. Thus even a simple message
can get a different meaning after finally reaching its destination.

4. After learning the Shannon weaver model, let’s find out about Schramm’s model
of communication which has its roots from the Shannon weaver model itself.

Wilber Schramm proposed the model of communication in 1954.

Information is of no use unless and until it is carefully put into words and conveyed to
others. Encoding plays a very important role because it initiates the process of
communication by converting the thought into content. When the information reaches
the recipient his prime responsibility is to understand what the speaker intends to
convey. Unless and until the second party is able to understand or decode the
information what the sender wants to communicate, the message is actually of no use.
Thus encoding and decoding are two most important factors of an effective
communication without which information can never flow between two individuals.
Schramm’s model also revolves around the above principle. According to the
Schramm’s model, coding and decoding are the two essential processes of an effective
communication.

He also emphasizes that the communication is incomplete unless and until the sender
receives a feedback from the recipient. Imagine a person sharing his thoughts with his
friend and his friend not responding to him. Is the communication complete?
NO.Schramm believed that communication is actually a two way process between the
first party and the second party.

Let us understand more with the help of an example

Jennifer to Sam -“Will you accompany me for a movie ?”

Sam kept mum and did not respond and hence the communication between Sam and
Jennifer was not complete. If Sam was not interested for the movie, he could have
responded or given the feedback to Jennifer about his unwillingness. According to
Schramm’s model, whenever the information reaches the recipient, it becomes his
responsibility to give the feedback and let him know if he has downloaded the message
in exactly the same manner the speaker wanted. If he is not clear with anything or has
any doubts, it must be cleared with the speaker. Thus when the speaker conveys any
message to the listener, the listener, decodes the message and once again passes the
message to the speaker after understanding it and completing the full circle.

Sender
M↓ ↑M
Receiver
M - Stands for message

Schramm believed that an individual’s knowledge, experience and cultural background

also play an important role in communication. Individuals from diverse cultures, religion
or background tend to interpret the message in different ways.

Billy to Servant - “Please bring something hot for me to drink as I am suffering from sore
throat.”

The servant brought him a glass of lukewarm water but Billy actually wanted a cup of
hot chocolate coffee. Hence different interpretation by the servant. He was not on the
common grounds with Billy and failed to understand his master’s information. It was
neither Billy’s nor the servant’s fault but actually the differences in both their
backgrounds which was to blame.

Go through another example

John to Teddy -“I get late for my office, please buy me a clock”

Teddy went to a local market and gifted a clock to John and John was never late to
office after that. He could have also misinterpreted the message, then how come he
could understand his friend’s desire? A Clock is always a clock whether Teddy has to
bring it or any other individual has to bring it. A clock can never be confused with a wrist
watch or for that matter something else. There are some messages which are more or
less same for everyone. They are called as messages with a Denotative
meaning which are almost the same for all individuals and in such cases chances of
misinterpretation and misunderstanding gets nullified.

Please once again refer to the above situation of John and Teddy and slightly modify
the situation. When John wanted a clock, Teddy brought two clocks for him as he was
two concerned for John and didn’t want him to get late. In this case John actually
wanted a single clock but Teddy brought his emotional quotient and personal affection
in between. Such meanings are called Connotative meaning which are affected by
emotional factors. A message can also get distorted due to wrong body movements,
gestures, facial expressions and many other factors.

To conclude according to this model of communication when a sender passes on the

information to the receiver, the receiver must interpret it in the desired form the sender
wants and give him the feedback or respond accordingly. Any communication where the
sender does not get the feedback, the communication is not complete and thus
ineffective.

5. Lasswell model - American sociologist and psychologist, Harold Lasswell is best

known for his linear model of communication that he developed in 1948. This model
of communication describes who is saying something, which channel is used to
convey the messages, who the message is aimed at and what effect the message
has. Communication sciences and public relations still often use this model, making
this a classic sender receiver model.
A Lasswell Communication Model example

Communication can be understood as more than Lasswell’s linear communication

model. The model can work really well when providing communication advice for
organisations, by answering all five questions. This way, a communications advisor or
marketer more easily gets an idea in advance about which concrete campaign should
be carried out. Such a campaign plan states which message is sent via which channels
and to which specific target audience in order to reach the desired effect and keep the
lines of communication open between the organisation and its target groups. This is
illustrated by the practical example below:

Imagine a large perfume chain that wants to reach a younger audience aged between
15 and 25 years old. Up until now, their customer base has been women between 25
and approximately 55 years old. Research has shown that especially young girls and
women are also interested in make-up and perfume, but that they prefer not to visit
shops, but rather prefer to look for products online.
For the perfume chain, this is a new challenge that Lasswell’s communication model
can help them with. The five components of the Laswell Communication Model are used
and each corresponding question is answered. In doing so, advice is formed and can be
used to develop the campaign:

1. Who is communicating?
The perfume chain themselves. They want to present themselves as a modern
company that also offers products online.

2. What needs to be communicated?

The perfume chain has opened an online shop and is now active on social media. The
online shop offers a wide range of make-up and perfumes from well-known brands and
orders are delivered within 24 hours. The language use will be hip and short and in the
2nd person singular (you), to make a connection and make the young target group feel
involved.

3. Which channel is going to be used?

Other than large billboards advertising the opening of the online shop, there will also be
investment in Facebook advertising as well as other social media, such as Twitter and
Instagram.

4. Who is the message intended for?

These are girls and women between 15 and 25 years old who don’t go to perfume
shops, but often order things online.

5. What effect does the campaign need to have?

The goal is for the target group to subscribe to the newsletter via Facebook or the
website, so they will receive weekly offers and more quickly decide to order via the
Internet.

Mass communication

The Lasswell Communication Model was primarily deigned to analyse mass

communication. However, it is also applied to interpersonal and group communication;
as is also clear from the previous example.
When Lasswell developed the model in 1984, it was meant to study media propaganda
from countries and businesses. In that time, only the rich could use mass media like
television and radio.

Newspapers were not read by everyone, simply because subscriptions were too
expensive. It was from this perspective that Lasswell came up with the concept of
effective mass communication; the relationship between the presentation of the
message and how this generates different effects. The effect of a message can also be
seen as feedback.
Despite the fact that the model was specifically designed for mass communication, it
can nowadays also be applied to different media and new fields, such as the Internet,
social media and campaigning.